by Rem Rieder, USA TODAY

by Rem Rieder, USA TODAY

In his speech Friday announcing reforms of government surveillance, President Obama went out of his way to play down the role of Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor whose leaks brought covert NSA snooping to light. And what he did have to say was hardly complimentary.

"Given the fact of an open investigation, I'm not going to dwell on Mr. Snowden's actions or motivations," the president said. "Moreover, the sensational way in which these disclosures have come out has often shed more heat than light, while revealing methods to our adversaries that could impact our operations in ways that we may not fully understand for years to come."

But the fact that Obama, a vigorous supporter of the NSA's efforts, felt compelled to rein in the surveillance was vivid evidence of Snowden's powerful impact.

It's true that Obama plans to leave in place the heart of the data gathering. For example, vast amounts of information about the telephone calls of ordinary Americans will still be collected. But the data will be held by a third party -- details remain to be worked out -- and the NSA will need to seek permission from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court before accessing information. That's a sharp contrast to the way it has been doing business.

Obama also tightened rules for when the U.S. can monitor foreign leaders, a procedure that has caused the nation no shortage of diplomatic blowback, and called for creation of a panel to represent privacy and civil liberties interests in certain instances before the surveillance court.

And while vigorously defending the NSA, Obama did acknowledged the need to strike a balance between security concerns and privacy.

The president did not go nearly as far as staunch opponents of the NSA would like. That was hardly a surprise.

But the fact that he did agree to the need for reforms, however modest, was entirely due to the Snowden disclosures. And it underscores the value of what Snowden has done.

The former NSA contractor, in temporary exile in Russia and facing espionage charges should he return to the U.S., remains an extremely polarizing figure, detested as a security-endangering traitor by some as unabashedly as he is embraced by civil liberties and privacy advocates.

But the information he disclosed -- carefully, working with top news organizations -- has played an important public service, exposing shadowy practices the American people needed to know about and triggering a vital debate we needed to have.

The matter is hardly settled. There are members of Congress on both the left and the Libertarian right who want to go much further than the president has.

And that's how these fundamental questions need to be sorted out, through the political process, not by unaccountable people behind closed doors.